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WLIB (1190 AM) is switching from the liberals to the Lord. After 29 months as the flagship station for the progressive talk network Air America, WLIB will become a full-time black gospel music station on Sept. 1.
It will be "music-intensive," says Vinny Brown, operations manager of sister station WBLS (107.5 FM), "but will not exist in a vacuum, just playing songs. It will be heavily involved with the community, because in many ways the church is the community."
Vice president/general manager Deon Levingston says while the "Praise and Inspiration" format will not have talk shows "per se," some shows "will focus on issues in a way that's compatible with the music."
He cited as an example Imhotep Gary Byrd's Sunday morning "Express Yourself" on WBLS, and suggested there could be some specialty shows on weekends. Byrd's current early-morning talk show on WLIB, however, will disappear.
"This will be a 24-hour gospel format," says Brown. The station will kick off with all music, then after a month or so will add hosts. No names have been announced yet, but Levingston says, "They will be people listeners will recognize. As with WBLS, we want personalities that are as strong as the songs they're playing."
Putting music on AM band is challenging in 2006, but Levingston says the fact WLIB will have this format to itself will help. The city hasn't had a full-time black gospel station since WWRL (1600 AM) switched to soul oldies in April 1997. Perhaps ironically, WWRL will pick up Air America programming on Sept. 1.
Brown says the success of specialty shows helped convince WLIB's parent Inner City broadcasting the gospel audience is there, and he noted gospel music itself has broadened its base lately. "Sometimes 'BLS has had six or seven gospel songs in rotation," he says. "You have core gospel artists like Shirley Caesar and Hezekiah Walker, but then you also have an increasing number of crossover artists like Kirk Franklin or Yolanda Adams.
While much of the audience is likely to be women, Brown says gospel today "isn't just for devout churchgoers. Is has a wide range of listeners." Brown said WLIB will focus on mainstream gospel though "there will be a presence" of specialized sounds like choirs and quartets.
Levingston said the station plans to work with "and listen to" church and community groups. It's a gamble for WLIB to finance its own programming instead of reupping with Air or leasing airtime to another provider, particularly since WLIB has often struggled for ad dollars.
But WLIB decided gospel was an up-and-coming format that would be stronger than the two other major candidates Levingston says were considered: oldies and country.
"At various times, each one of those three seemed to be the favorite," he says. "But gospel is more compatible with the station's heritage and with WBLS, where we think there's real synergy." One format never seriously considered, says Levingston, was talk or news/talk.
"That field is already too crowded," says Levingston. "With seven or eight stations, it would just be too hard to establish a new one. Look at Air : Its ratings were lower than our old Caribbean format, and it never got the advertising it needed to make money."
He acknowledged there is sentiment in the community for a "black talk" station, but he said that in the end, Inner City felt gospel would provide a better service.
David Hinkley - New York Daily News | 
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